A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian crashed on Sunday (May 19) when it was crossing a mountainous terrain, an Iranian official told the news agency Reuters.
Reports emerged that the helicopter was found by search teams, but Red Crescent refuted the rumous stating that it has not been found yet.
An unnamed Iranian official also told state TV that contact has been made with one passenger and one crew member who were on the helicopter.
Iranian officials have spoken to two people on the same helicopter as President Raisi since it crashed, Iranian Vice President for Executive Affairs Mohsen Mansouri told the country’s semi-official FARS news agency.
Mansouri said that because officials made contact “several times” with a passenger and member of the flight crew shortly after the crash, “It appears that the incident was not severe”.
Three helicopters were flying on the same route before two lost contact with Raisi’s helicopter, Mansouri said.
“The Ministry of Communications and other security agencies have identified the incident area within a 2-kilometer radius. Due to weather conditions, access to the area is challenging,” he said.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, said, “We hope that God the almighty returns the dear president and his colleagues in full health to the arms of the nation. (Audience saying Amen!)”
“(People) must be assured that there will be no disturbances in the country’s affairs,” he added.
Earlier, one official said the lives of Raisi and the foreign minister were “at risk following the helicopter crash”. “We are still hopeful but information coming from the crash site is very concerning,” said the official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Raisi was reportedly returning from the Khoda Afarin region in Iran’s northwestern province of East Azarbaijan after inaugurating a dam at the common border with the Republic of Azerbaijan, reported Tasnim news agency, but the state media didn’t share details of what exactly happened to the helicopter.
